Boar's Nest Bar-B-Que

I just ate at the new Boar's Nest, and I must say it was a disappointment.  Some of you may remember the old Boar's Nest on Wedington.  A small place, that constantly smelled of woodsmoke and had the absolute best Mustard Potato Salad that you have ever eaten.  Just a few wooden booths and rough walls.  Well, it's gone.  They moved across the street into a bigger place maybe two years back, and completely changed.

The new Boar's Nest is sort of a combination sports bar and college hangout.  There's a 3-sided bar with a wall of beer cans, and wooden booths and tables.  There are also 14 - I kid you not - 14 televisions.  Some of them are actually on the wall of the booth right in your face.  There's also a small pool table and a PGA arcade game.  In good weather you can sit outside on the patio, or you can sit next to the glass garage doors that slide up near the bar area.

Food-wise, we were disappointed.  The previous Boar's Nest had fabulous BBQ and mouth-watering Mustard Potato Salad.  The new Boar's Nest has BBQ, burgers, and "bayou classics."  They no longer have Pulled Pork, so Frank and I both got the Chopped Pork Platter.  It comes with 2 slices of french bread and my 2 sides were Potato Salad and Etouffee.  Frank got Potato Salad and Fried Okra.

The BBQ wasn't really bad.  I mean, it was BBQ pork!  But it was a bit generic and not as smokey or flavorful.  The sauce was okay; it had some spice to it, but nothing special.  The okra was your generic frozen package of fried okra that a lot of restaurants use.  The worst thing was the potato salad.  It's made with potatoes and has a dressing of herbs and sour cream, and it wasn't that good.  I hated it.  Frank ate it but said it wasn't any kind of potato salad he'd ever seen before.  The brightest point of the meal was the etouffee.  It's shrimp etouffee, and actually had some heat to it.  It was a little more tomatoey than I'm used to, and had mushrooms in it, but it wasn't bad considering we're not in Cajun Country.  I'm not sure I could eat it as an entree though.

Overall, we were disappointed and won't be eating there again.  Partly because of the food, partly because of the ambiance.  If you want nubile young things in skimpy shorts and cowboy boots serving your food, then by all means, go to the Boar's Nest.  But if you want good BBQ, don't bother.  It's become a place with generic hangout food.  Two-and-a-half stars. [They were sufficiently not bad that I considered 3 stars, but that implies that I would eat there again.]